Inspiring Impact is a UK wide initiative that aims to change the way the voluntary and community sector thinks about impact and to make high quality impact practice the norm for charities and social enterprises by 2022.
The programme for Northern Ireland is linked to the UK wide Inspiring Impact Programme which is a coalition of some leading third sector organisations across the UK. The Building Change Trust, as the Northern Ireland partner on the UK board, has committed £500,000 matched by a further £188,000 from the Department for Social Development to deliver an initial two year programme of work which will support VCSE organisations and their funders to better understand and embrace impact practice.
Sported, a charity which provides funding and business support to community groups that use sport to transform the lives of disadvantaged young people, will receive funding of £15,000 to act as a leader for impact within the Sport for Development sector.
Sported’s membership of grassroots sport clubs are changing thousands of young lives and tackling some of society’s most complex and challenging problems. Now thanks to funding from Inspiring Impact, Sported will be able to help its members better understand the cycle of impact practice, assess their own impact practice and plan to apply impact practice.
In being able to reliably measure their impact and articulate clearly the difference they are making, Sported members will be able to improve their services, attract new funding streams and allocate their revenue more effectively.
The Inspiring Impact programme will complement Sported’s existing array of impact measurement services and resources, most notably its Sportworks and Sportworks Lite tools. These impact measurement tools are the first ever shared measurement system specifically designed for Sport for Development organisations. It enables grassroots sport groups to accurately measure the impact of their respective Sport for Development projects and, uniquely, quantify the cost saving to society as a result, thus providing the much needed business case for further investment.
Brenda Kelly, Northern IrelandManager at Sported, comments:“We are delighted to have been selected by The Building Change Trust to act of leaders for impact in the Sport for Development sector. Accurate impact measurement lies at the heart of developing effective programmes, sharing best practice and attracting funding, so it is fantastic that our members will now have the opportunity to benefit from Inspiring Impact’s fantastic resources.”
Nigel McKinney, Director of Operations at The Building Change Trust comments: “Sported set out an excellent proposal for how they would support their members develop their impact practice and we look forward to working with them and the 12 other grant recipients across Northern Ireland to make a real difference in the coming 12 months”.
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About Inspiring Impact
Inspiring Impact NI is a Building Change Trust initiative which will support VCSE organisations and their funders to better understand and embrace impact practice.
As the Northern Ireland partner on the UK board, The Building Change Trust has committed £500,000 matched by a further £188,000 from the Department for Social Development, to deliver an initial two year programme of work here inNorthern Ireland.
For more information, please visit www.inspiringimpactni.org